Just One Night
by Sugarbubbleslove
Summary: They might die tomorrow, but they still had each other Prompt for September 10th


Title: Just One Night

Characters: Hope/Vanille

Rating: Teen

Disclaimers: I do not own anyone/anything from the forum Final Fantasy. Square Soft/Enix owns Final Fantasy and its characters. There is no copyright infringement intended. I do not make any profit/money or take any credit.

Summary: They might die tomorrow, but they still had each other

A/N: Prompt for September 10th – Hope/Vanille – Comfort Sex – 'It may be the last chance they might have…just one night…for luck.'

Timeline: In game – before you face Final Bosses

Word Count: 1,400

Betaed: Nope

A/N: Went off track, it just didn't want to go down the route I originally planned.

Just One Night

Hope sighed as he stared at the portal that would take them toward Orphan's cradle. The others had gone in their own way to deal with any last thoughts they had. It was the final battle and they were determined to win, they also knew that it could be the last time they saw each other.

After all, they only had the fate of becoming a crystal or a Cei'eth, neither of them was attractive prospects.

He could hardly believe that it had only been a few weeks since they had become L'Cie. He looked at his brand that was partially covered by his handkerchief. It was getting closer to the end and he knew that he didn't have long left.

"Are you okay?" he turned around to see Vanille standing there, her head tilted slightly and her hands linked together behind her back. She had a worried/concerned expression on her face and he smiled, trying to get her to smile again. He liked it when she smiled.

"Yeah…it's just you know, we're close to the end," he told her and she nodded, understanding as she came to stand next to him, looking at the portal.

"It's strange to know that we are here, isn't it? We were determined to find a way to get our brands off only to find ourselves standing on the doorstep of the one person we're supposed to destroy in order to save Cocoon." Hope nodded.

"It's even stranger to know that this could be our last night," he admitted before shrugging at she looked at him. "We do this; we complete our focus and get turned into crystals. We don't do this and we get turned into Cei'eth. Neither of them is a good reason to move forward." Vanille giggled.

"At least you still have your sense of humour," she teased him. Hope rolled his eyes but he couldn't help the smile that tugged at corners of his lips.

"Yeah, best thing to have when you are heading into danger. You never know, you could cripple the bad guy with laughter," Hope teased. Vanille laughed a little harder before she frowned.

"I don't know, he doesn't seem like the type to have a sense of humour," Vanille said. Hope shrugged.

"Bad guys usually don't. I think it's a way of making sure they don't have a weakness to bad jokes." Vanille pushed at Hope's shoulders as she giggled. Hope just chuckled as he regained his balance. "Where are the others?" he asked.

"Oh, Lightning and Snow are looking at the portal that takes us back to Cocoon while Fang and Sazh are looking at the portal that takes us back to Grand Pulse. I think they are curious to how it works." Hope nodded. "I think they also want to go back, you know, just one more time."

"We still have time," he pointed toward his brand. Vanille wrinkled her nose.

"I guess…a part of me wants to go back to Oerba, to have one more look about but another part of me wants to charge on ahead, to get this over and done with."

"I understand," Hope told her as he sat down on the cool tiles. Vanille followed suit, tucking her legs into her side, looking at the young man. She couldn't say he was a boy anymore; he had grown up since then.

"What will do you if we survive this and don't get turned into anything?" Vanille asked.

"Go back to Grand Pulse," he told her without thinking. He blushed when he saw the stunned look on her face. "I want to take my dad there, to show him that there is nothing to be scared of. To show Cocoon that there is another place we can go."

"Do you think they will?" Vanille asked. Hope shrugged.

"If we defeat Orphan…then we won't really have a choice. Orphan pretty much controls the Fal'Cie up here. Once we defeat it, the rest of the Fal'Cie will follow it, won't they?" Hope asked. Vanille frowned.

"I guess…" she had never dealt with that question in her time and she had no answer for it in this time.

"What about you?" Hope asked curious to what the young woman's desires was. Vanille tilted her head.

"I guess I never thought that far ahead…but if I had to, I want to see your house." Hope's look turned to one of puzzlement.

"My house?" he asked and Vanille nodded, her hair bobbing in time.

"Yep. Fang, Lightning and Snow has already seen your house. I haven't. You have seen mine and I want to see yours. It's a fair exchange," she informed him. Hope stared at her for a moment longer before a wry smile crossed his face and he shrugged.

"Why not? It's a promise," he held up his pinkie. Vanille giggled, delighted that Hope had remembered the Oerba way of making promises and interlocked her pinkie with his.

There was a whooshing sound behind them and they saw Lightning and Snow stepping through the portal to head to Cocoon while Sazh and Fang stepped through the portal to Grand Pulse. They obviously wanted to spend a little more time being free before they went ahead with what they had to do.

"Huh, the least they could do was tell us," Hope muttered. Vanille smiled as she looked at Hope.

"They'll be back soon," she assured him. Hope nodded as he rested his back against the wall, sighing as he looked at the ceiling…at least what he thought was the ceiling. Vanille joined him. "It's strange. I never thought I would come this far. I was determined to run away, it just seemed safer."

"But you faced up to your fears and you moved forward." Hope reached out, taking Vanille's hand in hers.

"That's because you helped me," she intertwined their fingers. Hope couldn't help but admire the softness of her fingers against hers. "You encouraged me."

"It was only fair. You helped me in the beginning, remember?" he reminded her and she smiled.

"Didn't that good of a job, I think that's down to Lightning," she told him. Hope shook his head.

"I kept your words in my head. I was too blinded by my anger to listen to you but I still heard the words and they came back to me at the last minute. It helped me to understand I was going about the wrong way. And I did manage to talk to him in the end," he finished off wryly. They both chuckled at the memory of Hope telling Vanille everything that had happened; including Snow's face when Hope had tried to kill him with the knife that they found out his fiancée had given to Lightning for her birthday.

"I still feel responsible for everything, though," Vanille murmured and Hope shook his head.

"You didn't want to hurt anymore people," Hope reminded her. "All you wanted to do was find a way to protect people, even if it mean turning into a Cei'eth. That's admirable but not really realistic." Vanille nodded.

"Did you ever think you would end up here?" Vanille asked, looking at him and he shook his head.

"No, I guess I always thought we would find a way to remove our brand. But I guess this is something we have to do, even if Cocoon will hate us, we still have to do it because everyone deserves a fair chance to live."

"Do you think we will make it?" she asked, she just needed to hear that they could make it. Hope grinned.

"We still have our promise to visit both Cocoon and Gran Pulse together. We have that to help us get through tomorrow." She had a surprised look on her face when Hope brought up the promise before she smiled.

Vanille smiled as she pressed a kiss to Hope's stiff ones. She pulled away and smiled at the startled look on his face.

"Thanks, Hope." She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Hope stared at her head before realisation dawned on him. She had kissed him. He had gotten his first kiss…and he didn't even kiss her back! Shaking his head, Hope placed his head on hers and closed his eyes, he just hoped that he would be able to kiss her back one day…maybe once they've completed their focus.

The End


End file.
